Comments Officially Closed

I'm sure you can find some place else to leave an inane comment, preferably on a blog that is still active.

Meh

I need a fresh start. Maybe a new blog. I don't know. Not much to say. Losing interest. No other explanation. Just bored. Carry on.

Unbelievable

Even more bad news for Texas students and teachers, this time from the New York Times. Board Chairman Don McLeroy brings teh burnin' stupid.

Dr. McLeroy believes that Earth’s appearance is a recent geologic event — thousands of years old, not 4.5 billion. “I believe a lot of incredible things,” he said, “The most incredible thing I believe is the Christmas story. That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe.”

Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

But Dr. McLeroy says his rejection of evolution — “I just don’t think it’s true or it’s ever happened” — is not based on religious grounds. Courts have clearly ruled that teachings of faith are not allowed in a science classroom, but when he considers the case for evolution, Dr. McLeroy said, “it’s just not there.”

“My personal religious beliefs are going to make no difference in how well our students are going to learn science,” he said.

I'll believe ya when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet.

Shifting Blame and Veiled Threats

From the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle, more bad news for Texas students and teachers.

[Vice Chairman David Bradley, R-Beaumont] and the board majority faulted English teachers for forcing too much of their own ideas into a proposal the board had tentatively approved two months earlier. That's why board members had to salvage a final document with a last-hour cut and paste job, he said.

“I don't think this will happen again because they got spanked,” Bradley said. “Science teachers should work with the board on their process and not try to do an end run around this elected body and steal the process.”

Fuck you very much.

“We want our children to be able to think and understand the strengths and weaknesses of any theory. Some ultra-radical groups have not evolved to the point where they realize that the ‘theory of Evolution' is just that — a theory,” [Board member Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio] said.

Well, isn't that clever?

“Any real scientist understands there are major weaknesses in evolution,” said Mercer, who has a degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin. “If we truly believe in intellectual debate, let's discuss those weaknesses.”

And no true Scotsman ever put sugar on his porridge.

“There are issues in the evolutionary process that have been proven wrong,” [Vice Chairman Bradley] said. “Evolution is not fact. Evolution is a theory and, as such, cannot be proven. Students need to be able to jump to their own conclusions.”

Not so fast.

"Part of preparing our students for postsecondary success includes providing them with a well-rounded education," [Barabar Cargill, R-The Woodlands] said. "Having the freedom to discuss the scientific strengths and weaknesses of a theory such as evolution teaches students how to evaluate both sides of an issue. It prompts them to be critical thinkers, and it also helps them to respect the opinions of other students even if they disagree."

In that case, we should probably teach students how to spot a blatantly false dilemma.

Crudely Wrought

Yesterday I mentioned that I recently applied to a teacher certification program at a nearby state university and was accepted. Good news. I elected to teach high school English. Bad news. I don't know what the fuck just happened to the curriculum standards. Nobody knows...

The State Board of Education's debate on new English and reading standards took another turn Friday as members approved a never-before-seen version of the lengthy document that materialized less than an hour before the board was to take a final vote.

After a terse debate on the new curriculum, the board voted 9-6 in favor of the new version, which will remain in place for the next decade and sets standards for state tests and textbooks, as well as classroom teaching.

Experts and teachers have been working on the new curriculum standards for two and a half years.

"I find it's really wild that we can work for three years on a project and then the board is so qualified they can pull it out of their [asses] overnight," said board member Pat Hardy, a Fort Worth Republican who, like other board members, received the substituted document when it was slipped under her hotel room door less than an hour before their meeting was set to convene Friday morning.

...with the exception of Chairman Don McLeroy and several other members of the Texas State Board of Education.

After first saying he would not give board members time to go over the new document during the meeting, Chairman Don McLeroy, a Republican from College Station, relented and allowed a short run through of the new document with an explanation of the changes.

But the squabbling did not end there.

"Mr. Chair you're going so fast ... you're moving so fast we can't find it in the other document," Berlanga said, shortly after the page-by-page explanation began.

After more complaints, McLeroy said that he would continue at the fast pace.

"The ruling is you're being dilatory in dragging this out," McLeroy said.

It hasn't even been a week since I got the acceptance letter in the mail and I'm already having second thoughts about teaching. Encouragement, please. Thanks in advance.

Killing Time

So, what have I been up to? Well, let's see. I read a few good books, including:

• Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer
  
• The Adventure of English: The Biography of A Language by Melvyn Bragg
  
• Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
• The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
• Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman
  
• Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

In that order. I'm currently reading Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Next up is The Story of English by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, and William Cran.

Also, I've been downloading a lot of music from Beatport, mostly Electro House. Here are some of my favorite tracks at the moment, in no particular order:

• "Everything in America" (Luki remix) by Ryan Riback
• "Stars" (JELO remix) by Dylan Rhymes and Blende
• "Explicit" by Montero
• "Cream Royale" by Morfeen
  
• "Implant" by Speculum
  
• "Bad Fever" by Alex Dias
• "Substation" (Ahmet Sendil remix) by Nihat Karadeniz
• "Come To Me" by Adam K
• "Hearing Test" by Stafford Brothers
• "Dance Machine" by Digital Freq
• "Stomped" by Redux
• "Gutter Music" by Hatiras
• "It Doesn't Matter" (En Masse remix) by Ninfa
  
• "Control" (Toygun remix) by Homm and Popoviciu

Eight years of spinning vinyl and I've finally decided to go digital. The 1200s are collecting dust. It's a damn shame. For now I'm using MixMeister to hold me over until I can get my hands on the new VCI-100 by Vestax, bundled with the latest version of Traktor by Native Instruments. That should be enough to get me started.

In other news, I recently applied to a teacher certification program at a nearby state university and was accepted. I'll have more to say about that some other time. I'm off to get some beer.

Move Along

Nothing to see here.

I'm taking a vacation from the blog-o-sphere, indefinitely.

Is it just me...

...or can this church sign be understood in more ways than one?